A report by Human Rights Watch on the Rapid Action Battalion was released on Friday. Unsuprisingly, it has had very little coverage here. But it really should, it’s an excellent report. The press release is cut and pasted:
Bangladesh: Elite Force Tortures, Kills Detainees
Ex-Ruling Party May Use Rapid Action Battalion for Elections
(New York, December 14, 2006) – Bangladesh’s elite anti-crime and anti-terrorism security force is responsible for widespread torture and killing more than 350 suspects in custody, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human Rights Watch warned that the former ruling party could use the abusive force for political purposes prior to elections slated for January 23, 2007.
The 79-page report, “Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Torture and Extrajudicial Killings by Bangladesh’s Elite Security Force,” describes how the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), established in 2004 to stop spiraling crime, has made a practice of killing criminal suspects in detention. Torture methods used by the force include beatings, boring holes in suspects with electric drills, and the application of electric shock.
“Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion has become a government death squad,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Its methods are illegal and especially shameful to a nation whose citizen just won the Nobel prize for peace.”
